CRI听力:China Solicits Public Views to Better Regulate Taxi and Private Car Hailing Services

The Ministry of Transport offered two drafts for public comment earlier this month. The aim was to promote the healthy development of the traditional taxi industry and better manage private car hailing services.

The core issue of the rules on online car hailing service concerns the status of these vehicles.

The draft makes it clear that the vehicles with seven or fewer seats for online booking services are categorized as taxis.

According to online car-hailing platforms, 75 percent of those providing the service are part timers.

Ye Yun is the chief public relations officer and senior inspector general of public affairs with Didi Kuaidi, China's major mobile-based car-booking company.

He is expecting coordinated management from the government.

"We hope the government will manage the platforms and allow the platforms to supervise the specific vehicles. The platforms are responsible for managing both vehicles and drivers."

As for pricing, most people think online service platforms shouldn't reimburse customers, falling into line with traditional taxi services.

And the promotional price they offer shouldn't be lower than the minimum fare offered by traditional services.

Zhou Hanhua, researcher with the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the design of the rules would actually allow more room for price setting. 

"The rules said the power to follow government-guided prices or market prices should be delegated to local governments and should be fairly flexible."

When it comes to the issue of whether the number of taxis - both traditional and online - should be limited, more people felt that too many taxis on the road would only lead to congestion and unemployment.

Others believed the number of taxis in cities should be subject to demand instead of government control.

Ministry of Transport officials say the most important thing is to strike a balance between the traditional taxi service and emerging private car hailing services.

For CRI, this is Luo Wen.